Congress leader Jagdish Tytler has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, challenging the trial court’s decision to frame charges against him related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Tytler, accused of involvement in the deaths of three individuals in Delhi’s Pul Bangash area during the riots, has described the legal actions against him as a “witch-hunt.”
The charges, formally framed by the trial court on September 13, include murder, unlawful assembly, rioting, promoting enmity between different groups, house trespass, and theft, to which Tytler has pleaded not guilty. He seeks to quash the trial court’s August 30 order that found sufficient ground to proceed against him.
In his petition, Tytler, who is 80 years old and contends with several health issues including heart disease and diabetes, argued that the framing of charges was “perverse, illegal, and lacked application of mind.” He further claimed that the allegations lack credible evidence and that the trial court’s decision was passed “mechanically.”
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a charge sheet against Tytler on May 20, 2023. According to the charge sheet, Tytler allegedly incited a mob on November 1, 1984, outside the Pul Bangash Gurudwara Azad Market, contributing to the burning of the Gurudwara and the deaths of Sikhs Thakur Singh, Badal Singh, and Gurcharan Singh. A witness cited in the CBI charge sheet claimed Tytler emerged from a white Ambassador car and instigated the crowd by encouraging violence against Sikhs following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
The anti-Sikh riots, which erupted following Gandhi’s assassination on October 31, 1984, led to significant loss of life and longstanding accusations of injustice among the Sikh community.
